Combat Outpost Keating

Combat Outpost Keating was a small American military outpost in Nurestan Province, in Afghanistan. It was originally constructed to be a Provincial Reconstruction Team, called PRT Kamdesh, but due to extremely high levels of fighting in the area it remained a fire base instead of a PRT. In December 2006, it was renamed Camp Keating after the death of ABLE Troop 3-71 Cavalry 10th Mountain Division's executive officer, Benjamin Keating, who died November 26, 2006, when his vehicle overturned in Kamdesh, Afghanistan. Plans were drawn up in the summer of 2006 by the US Army's 10th Mountain Division as part of Operation Mountain Lion. Combat Outpost Keating is best known as the site of the Battle of Kamdesh, which occurred on October 3, 2009; the base was nearly overrun, and eight Americans and four Afghan defenders were killed. Two Americans, Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and Specialist Ty Carter were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions in defending the base. The American soldiers killed in the battle were: SSG Justin T. Gallegos (Tucson, Arizona), aged 27 SGT Christopher Griffin (Kincheloe, Michigan), aged 24 PFC Kevin C. Thomson (Reno, Nevada), aged 21 SGT Michael P. Scusa (Villas, New Jersey), aged 22 SSG Vernon W. Martin (Savannah, Georgia), aged 25 SPC Stephan L. Mace (Lovettsville, Virginia), aged 21 SGT Joshua J. Kirk (South Portland, Maine), aged 30 SGT Joshua M. Hardt (Applegate, California), aged 24 The base was abandoned and bombed by an American B-1 bomber on the night of October 6. A day after, on October 7, Taliban fighters were seen among the ruins of the outpost. According to army records, the Taliban commander of the attack on Keating, Abdul Rahman Mustaghni, was killed by the following drone strike, along with thirteen other insurgents. Amy Davidson Sorkin, writing in The...